Washing machine



July 2, 1929. E. BUGGE WASHING MACHINE Filed Dec. 7, 1927 f /IN VENTOR 1-1/2 BY. J

mm llllll lllllli r Patented July 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERLING BUGGE, F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN LYNG,

' OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

WASHING MACHINE.

Application filed December This invention relates to machines for washing clothes and other articles of fabric or the like.

The object of my invention is to provide a machine of this character which will be efli cient and economical in operation and in which the washing and rinsing of the goods is promoted by means of circuitous currents of water generated by means of mechanism provided therefor in the machine.

More specific objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description.

The invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a view in transverse vertical section of a washing machine embodying the present invention; and Fig. 2 is'a View partly in plan and partly in horizontal section of the same.

In said drawing, the reference numeral 5 represents a circular tank which is open at the top and has at the bottom a water draw-otli' pipe 6 controlled by a valve 7.

Provided within the tank in proximity of its bottom wall 8 is a partition 9 to afford a compartment 10 therebelow. Said partition is provided in its underside with an annular channel 11 arranged concentrically of the axis of the tank, the inner and outer peripheral walls 12 and 13, respectively, of said channel are imperforate, but the horizontal portions of the partitions above and surrounding said channel are foraminated, as indicated by 14:, 15 and 16. Operating within said channel is a pair of water impelling members 17 and 18 formed in the similitude of marine screw propellers, the same being rigidly secured to the upper. ends of vertically disposed pins 19 which are journaled in the ends 20 of aligned arms 21 of a yoke which is fixedly secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 22. This shaft is rotated by means of a motor 23 through the medium of a worm 24 on the motors armature shaft and a worm wheel 25 provided on the shaft beneath the tank. The shaft 22 which carries said yoke is journaled in a bearing box 26 rigid with the tank and forms ,a part of a stuffing box of which 27 indicates the gland nut.

Said bearing box constitutes the hub of a non-rotatable spur gear 28 whose teeth are in continuous mesh with the teeth of pinions 7, 1927. Serial No. 238,328.

29 Which are fixedly secured below said yoke to the pins 19 of the respective impellers 17 and 18.

The blades of said impellers are arranged somewhat helical, the helix of one blade, prefisrab%y, being right hand and the other lel't rant In operation, the clothes or other goods to be washed are placed upon the partition 9 in saponified water or suds, whereupon the motor 23 is operated to revolubly carry the impellers 17 and 18 in a planetary course, as indicated by arrow A Fig. 2, in the channel 11; and, in being thus revolved, the pinions 29 of the respective impellers coact with the spur gear 28 to cause the impellers to rotate, in directions of arrows B, with respect to the axes of their pins 19.

lVith impellers having right and left hand helical blades, the rotation of the same cause the suds to be drawn through the clothes downwardly by one impeller and forced upwardly through the clothes by the other impeller whereby a circulation of water in a substantially -verticalplane diametrically of the tank is effected.

Such vertical plane, so to speak, of the water circulation is, however, rotated progressively about the axis of the impellers path of revolution and, in consequence, subjects the entire body of clothes to a progres sion of intermittently occurring upanddown currents of the washing water to thor-- oughly cleanse the same.

After being thus washed, the dirty suds is withdrawn from the tank by opening the valve 7; and, after closing the valve, supplying the tank with a charge of clean water for rinsing the clothes; and the impellers are actuated as explained above for circulating the rinsing water. The impertorate side walls 12 and 13 of the channel 11 regulate the water so that it enters and is discharged from the channel at both the top and bottom simultaneously at opposite sides respectively of the channel.

The portions 15 and 16 of the partition are foraminated to permit water to pass therethrough and thus obviate neutral spaces with regard to clothes which may be located over the referredto portions of the partition.

The portion 16 of the, partition surround ing the channelled portion thereof is desirably located in a plane below the general plane of the top of the partition to serve as a trough for the collection of lint or other material which otherwise would tend to clog the holes in other portions of the partition.

The construction and operation of the invention will, it is thought, he understood from the foregoing description of the illustrated embodiment thereof.

What I claim, is,

1. In a washing machine, the combination I of a circular tank, a partition therein disposed in spaced relation with the bottom of the tank, said partition being provided in its underside-with an annular channel having imperforatcd peripheral walls and a foraminated top wall affording communication between the spaces above and below the partition, a non-rotary spur gear provided in the tank below said partition, a rotary shaft extending axially through said gear, a yoke rigidly mounted upon said shaft, pins rotatably mounted in the respective arms of said yoke, a water impeller fixedly mounted upon the upper end of each of said pins and located within said channel, a spur pinion rigid with each of said pins and inter-meshing with the teeth of said gear, and means to drive said shaft for actuating said impellers.

2. In a washing machine, the combination of a circular tank, a partition therein disposed in spaced relation with the bottom of the tank, said partition being provided in its underside wlth an annular channel, a non-rotary spur gear provided in the tank 'below' said partition, a rotary shaft extending axially I through said gear, a yoke rigidly mounted upon said shaft, pins rotatably tank spaces above and below the partition,

a pair of rotatable helical water-impelling members arranged for revoluble travel in said channel, means to impart revoluble movement to both of said members, and means for rotating the same about their respective axes.

4. In a washing machine, the combination of a tank, a foraminated partition provided therein, a shaft extending into the tank below said partition, a yoke rotatable with said shaft, a pair of portable helical water-impelling members carried by said yoke, means to drive said shaft to effect the revoluble movementof said members circumferentially of the tank, and means rendered operable by the revolution of said members to rotate the same to impart movement of Water by said 1nem-.

bers through the foraminations of the partition in the progressive travel of said members circumferentially of the tank;

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 26th day of November, 1927.

, ERLING BUGGE. 

